


Four Battles (one war)

by Crosses_and_Qoutes



Series: Dimensions of Frost [3]
Category: Guardians of Childhood & Related Fandoms, Guardians of Childhood - William Joyce, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: A bit of angst with happy ending, Families of Choice, Family Bonding, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:34:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 18,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28090107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crosses_and_Qoutes/pseuds/Crosses_and_Qoutes
Summary: The final installation of the Dimensions of Frost series. The Guardians are on a hunt after the disaster of a seasonal summit and running out of time. As things begin to spiral further and further out of control a question is slowly raised. Can they save Jack without breaking their Oath?
Series: Dimensions of Frost [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/778959
Comments: 4
Kudos: 26





	1. Declaration

North is like a campfire. It’s warm, it keeps the monsters back and the darkness at bay and he knows that he is safe. He also knows that one small spark, one misblown ember, can ignite the forest and burn it down to its roots. North has the potential of great destruction, as well as magnificent creation. North chooses to be safe and warm until given a reason not to.

Frosty has given him a very good reason.

The body in his arms, Jack’s body, cooling degree by degree and limp. His skin has gone from pale to snow white, a thin contrast between his bluing lips. He doesn’t shiver. Why does the boy not shiver? Surely-

“North!” Jack snaps, stretching feebly in his hold. “Easy. I can walk, it’s just a blindfold.”

“Do not care,” He mutters, pulling him closer as if it will fix the mess they are in. Will take the damn shards out.

“Anut?” Jack can feel him, he’s furless skin brushing under his command as he reaches out. The qiqurn is desperate to get him out of the man’s arms, his sharp trailing actions doing nothing to ease the others. “Where are Gerda and Kai? Two children, look almost like Nods.”

“I have them, little Lord.” Aghalki nods, and if Jack can focus on something beyond the roaring in his ears, he can hear their soft sniffling on his back.

“Take them to the infirmary, wash them of any remaining shards, and perform the basic purification process on the shards and them, just in case. Get them both something to eat and drink as well, and I will meet you as soon as I’m done giving instructions.”

Aghalki snorts in response, starting the walk toward the house. Gerda grows quiet, Kai’s sniffling increasing in panic. Afraid to leave the only human-looking companions, no doubt. They don’t know anything about spirits if they think that humanity is based upon appearance.

“Instructions? Jack, this is going to be a quick fix. We are going to find Frosty and make him fix this.” Tooth’s voice is hard in his ears; he can imagine her clenched hands.

“Tooth, it is already affecting my abilities. I know the temperature is too much for you and Bunny but I can’t reign it in. My control is already slipping. I can’t let it slip to the flocks either. Somebody else is going to have to lead them until we can get a hold of this situation. Winter may be finished but they still have to be clipped, the wool cleaned…I don’t know how long this going to last-“

“Not long. We are fixing this now.” Bunny muttered. His teeth are grinding on top of one another in what almost sounds like a growl. It would have been funny, given practically any other situation.

“Spring is coming Bunny. You and I both know that means your holiday is near. You really gonna hold off prep for lil’ ol’ me?” The statement came out with more bite than he meant. Sharp. Everything felt sharp and dull at the same time. A dull knife desperate to cut through the fog.

“I’ll make time. I can bend.”

Jackson doesn’t even have time to think about how big of a deal before a large gentle hand was clearing the hair away from his face. It would be comforting, should be, but all he can focus on is the drag of the callouses on his skin, the cold a comfort and pain.

“Oh little Lord, what have you gotten into?” Chione muttered. She changed so vastly when she was adopted by her Mother that North doesn’t recognize her right away. Large as life and blue as the sky at high noon, her teeth are as sharp as the wolves treading underfoot, her white hair plaited back. The hammer is locked into a holder on her hip, though she does not pound mountains into the earth as she did. Mostly armor for those who defend winter with pride. “Can we get something softer for his eyes please?” She comments to a sparrow rider, “He may be temporarily blind but that doesn’t mean we have to skim on comforts.”

“Chione, until this is over, you Aghlaki and Seg are in charge. You three have some experience with Winter before, and we are going to need all the help we can. You know who to go to when it comes to caring for the flock. I…I don’t trust myself to even touch them right now.”

There is a shift in his placement, warm sand-burning, hot, scorching! But it is not. Jack knows it's not- Cradles him now, gentle as he can and lifting him into the air. North isn’t happy, he can feel the humph, but in the air is comforting. This sand used to be comforting, though it sparks uncomfortably on his bare skin. He only knows from Tooth's gentle murmurs that they are heading to the tree. He tries to reign the ice again, he can hear Bunny’s teeth chattering, but it surges in a way in the opposite direction. It plummets a few more degrees.

North’s boots crack the new ice. “Almost to Gerda and Kai. They will help us.”

“I thought they went home after the Snow Queen?” Tooth muttered.

“That’s the problem with stories. They end on the last page, but not really. We all know happy ever after is more complicated than that.”

The cold eases back in the willow and pine of the tree. Gerda and Kai are huddled close to the fireplace, a selection of fruits and slices of bread. They nibble, but not enough. Aghlaki is off to the side, blocking the cold from the open door.

The sand deposits him in his favorite wingback, just in front of the table where the food is, Sandy floating above him. They try to avoid crowding, but the chairs are always set in a circular fashion. Tooth hovers to the side of North, Bunny kneeling on the thick rug.

“Gerda and Kai? My name is Jack Frost, but I think you already know that. I’m not angry” -he raises his hands placating – “I don’t think you had any idea what was going on. I know you are scared. I’m scared too. That’s why we need the full story. The story of what happened after the Snow Queen passed. Can you help with that?”

Kai sets the bread down, rubbing the edge of his sleeve. “After Gerda saved me, she just…disappeared. She smiled and thanked us for finally freeing her, and just turned into snowflakes? Fluffy bees? That’s what it looked like anyway. We didn’t know what was happening though.”

“The snow stopped in the air like it wasn’t sure what it was supposed to do anymore,” Gerda added. “Then it rushed forward like a storm? We coughed for a while, but we just thought it was like a goodbye or something.”

A tap on his shoulder, a soft ribbon. The wind had seen that its new masters were children and panicked. It gave them a portion of its power but separated itself. That explained the large scar on its side. Self-inflicted.

“We went back.” Gerda continued, “We rode the reindeer and even rescued the robber girl and we took everyone home and we thought that was the end of it but…something had changed.”

“I could stand outside for hours and never feel the cold.” Kai mumbled “Gerda could hear conversations from the other side of town because the wind told her. But mostly, we didn’t age. Mom got scared, I think, I could hear her whispering something about a changeling?”

“Ms. Finn and Ms. Lapp had a better idea. They helped us fake our deaths, even got us back to the Snow Queen’s castle, and it was fun for a while. We tried to visit once, but the town was completely different, we couldn’t find anyone and-and”

“They walked right through us,” Gerda whispered, clutching her sleeve in her hand.

North signs. They had outreached their human limitations and become legends. It was hard enough when he was a man, but to do so to a child?

“How long were you by yourselves?” Tooth asked. She picked up a piece of fruit, and it seemed to remind the children that it was safe to eat.

“We weren’t really. I’m guessing it’s pretty obvious that we don’t know what we are doing? At the very least that nobody had taught us how to fight! Other spirits took advantage of us for a while. Forcing us into the lower parts of the castle like the dungeons while they lived in the queen’s suite. Mostly we would just try to stay away from whatever section they had and they stayed away from us.” Kai shrugged, reaching for Gerda’s hand.” It wasn’t happy, but it was decent enough. We had each other.” 

“Frosty came in and cleared them away though! He helped plant the garden and played and sang songs! We were happy with him.”

“We even went sledding!” Gerda glanced at Kai, who nodded, “He would leave a few months out of the year to keep his story alive but year after year he always came back, but he was angry. Frustrated? We were able to cheer him up the first few decades but it didn’t work as well each year. Eventually, though, he asked if we trusted him and, well…”

“He asked for the Snow Queen’s mirror,” Bunny mumbled. “I was under the impression it was broken?”

“It is. He said he could put it back together and asked for the shards. Something about how it might be able to help him find something and he would give it right back! We even kept checking his eyes and stuff for splinters but we never found any.”

“He got cold.” Jack leaned against the sides of the chair.

“Any spirits or monsters that came through we never saw again. He is still protecting us! But-“

“He hasn’t played with us in a while,” Gerda whispered softly, wiping at her eyes.

Jack gave them a moment, taking a sip from a cup that had been pressed to his hands. The heat was unpleasant, but not unbearable. He took a sip.

“The disguise?” he asked.

“We got the summons for the Summit but we didn’t know what that meant or what we were supposed to do. Frosty said it would be safer to go by Old Man Winter and Mother Frost. Frosty said they didn’t exist anymore anyway, so using their names would be fine. As long as we could get in and out as quickly as possible without anyone asking any questions, it should work.”

North stroked his beard, really looking at these two and finally realizing that they were just children. Really children still, with no idea how dangerous that mirror was.

“You know you can’t go home now,” Jack told them as gently and firmly as possible. “Frosty endangered you when he forced the staff to explode. Kai would not survive being infected twice, and that’s if the shards didn’t dig in somewhere vital. You wouldn’t have either.” He says, looking towards Gerda’s direction.

He assumes their nodding when he is meant with silence.

“There is a garden here. You passed through it on your way here. Would that be suitable for now?”

Gerda nods, smiling, Kai opens his mouth to ask if he can explore the woods, but it might be best to ask someone else. Jack is leaning pretty heavily into the armrest of the chair and the teacup in his hand has frost on the edges. 

“One last thing.” Tooth interjects as the children rise, “Do you know what exactly it was that saved Kai?”

“No.” Gerda answered, “I’m sorry.” She patted Jack’s knee. “I hope you feel better soon Mr. Frost.”

He can hear them shuffle away, Aghlaki asking if they would prefer a cave, a den, or an infernal nest like a bunch of birds. It gets a small laugh that vaguely echoes. Jack gives himself a small smile that he can feel their joy still, no matter how small.

He flinches when something moves against his hands, removing the cup, rubbing his hands.

“Sandy says at least you have a good excuse for not being able to understand him,” Bunny mutters.

“Love you too Beach Babe.” Jack chuckles, a whip of dream sand ruffling his hair, “But focus. Four possible solutions if I remember correctly?”

“Or a combination of. Winter Magic, if it is Winter Magic at all, is far more tricky than standard spell. From what I remember of Snow Queen’s story, Gerda may have given third final kiss which could be true love’s kiss, the strongest way of breaking any spell. Child of purity and strength crying with love in their heart over you. Kai repenting . Spelling Eternity. All could be effective.” North said, wishing he had his copy on him.

“The tale makes it a point to mention it is hot tears. None of you are children anymore, and even I am too mature and experienced to have the purity of a child, much less any of you. So that knocks two out.”

None of them had ever had the purity of a child, and if they had it wasn’t for long.

A shifting sound to his left. “Sandy says that finding the origin of the mirror may help us. It’s a powerful relic, but there must be a way to pinpoint what magic it actually is.” Tooth added.

“Frost Court would hold such stories-what do you meant it’s abandoned? I thought you and –slow down, you gumby!”

Sandy repeated the signs again. Court was abandoned. Metal rusting on gates, wide-open doors. Not sure if the library is still intact.

“Only one way to know.” Jack lifted himself out of his position. His hands are as white around his staff as they were around the heated mug.

“You’re staying here.” Bunny tried to ease him back, “We can’t risk those shards moving deeper.”

“You can’t walk into a Winter Court without a winter escort, oh Avatar of Spring.”

Unfortunately true, created to ensure that you couldn’t just walk in and invade a season whenever you felt like it. North was considered too much a holiday spirit to make it work. He pulled out a snow globe as they walked to the entryway, noting that there were only a few more left.

Even knowing what they were going into, the winds knocked Jack back, Sandy taking him up and floating him over the ground. Tooth felt like joining them.

Luckily the snow globe took them straight to the entrance of a large throne room, the throne itself looking desolate with piles of snowbanks whipping about. North mumbled into his hand, a small light building until it finally rose to the air, illuminating the room. The windows were either broken or whited out from the wind and snow outside, looking sinister in the low light.

“Don’t suppose anyone knows the way to the library?” Tooth asked, looking down the three paths.

Sandy stayed in the throne room, his sand providing light down the three paths. Tooth and Bunny went separately down the others with North and Jack taking the left. It’s difficult. North doesn’t mention that there is frost on Jack’s hands, thick clumps of white collecting on his ceremonial crown like a halo, as he leads him down the halls. Their silhouettes cast an image that could easily be a man and child walking hand and hand.

It takes some branching, but they finally find it. Frosty must have slowly been moving books out of here, or perhaps other spirits had ransacked it. It is nearly empty, a slight whistle between the shelves. The rows look like broken teeth, some bending and warped under the collected water of snow that has infiltrated the place, but there are still a few left, scattered between the shelves. He hopes there is still something useful. Jack releases a frost rabbit to ride along the stream of sand.

Mostly fairy tales, myths…they must have been deemed useless. North knows better though.

Jack lets go, drifting along the shelves.

“Relax North,” Jack says, “I’m just going to graze the shelves and bring whatever it is to you. I can’t read it, but I can carry them fine. I’ll be careful.”

The staff clicks against the floor and cases, a source of power and control. North bites his lip, watching the steady stream of ice ferns that are circling the floor and walls. Slipping rapidly.

North keeps a careful eye, scanning the books. Surely there must be something of worth. Anything. Most are just repeats of what Jack already has-

He glances up, Jack with a handful of books, stepping in front of a clean and intact mirror hidden in the corner of the room.

“Jack!”

A whirlwind breaks out of the mirror, the same whip-like strands from the spear snatching Jack by the throat. Jack falls to the ground, fighting the pull. North reaches for his sabers, but this is not an enemy he can cut down. North rushes forward. If he cannot get it to let it go, he will drag Frosty here! He catches something, but the magic, burning, acidic, _wrong_ throws him back, shattering the mirror. North roars as he’s thrown into a bookcase, falling on top. More glass, more accursed glass in his hands.

“North! We have to go!”

The mirror is destroyed. Jack is gone.

The castle is shattering around them like bombs going off systematically. Ice like jagged rocks crashing like waves, the thin snowflakes turning into spinning wheels that go for their heads. He registers the curse Bunny gives when he sees the glass, but there isn’t time. He wasn’t in time. Tooth reaches in the Jacket as they run, throws the snow globe out a few feet.

They return bloody. They return mostly whole. They return without Jack.

North finally looks down in his white-knuckled hand when they start purifying the shards.

A faded red ribbon. The ribbon from Frosty’s story.

-

Jack claws at the hand around his throat, gasping as it squeezes tighter without mercy. The coal eyes are blank as they squint at the mirror shards on the ground. Another spy hole gone. Well, the Library wasn’t much use anymore, and he was right. It was the first place they went to.

“None of that boy.” Frosty smugly grins, reaching with one hand to fix his tie, “If your precious Guardians want you back, I hope they can follow instructions-“

His tie. The ribbon. That oaf had actually managed to-this isn’t good. It’s a main component of his fairy tale. Without it…he won’t last long. Especially with Winter coming to a close.

“Strike that. I’m afraid that I cannot be as…generous as I would like.”

They should understand his power. That this is not a negotiable situation.

He throws Jack into an iron cage at the front of the desk, taking a glance at the other creatures in the room. No, no, no-ah. Small, boyish figure, white hair…yes, the Selki boy looks similar enough. A little preview of what might happen if they don’t comply with his demands. He glances at the trunk in the corner of the room. The boy wouldn’t exactly need it after this but, he supposed that he had earned some reward for his…cooperation. After all, the Selki had helped him understand how the body shifts, how important image was. Yes, he supposes the boy has deserved a bit of reward for his contributions.

He will grant him his skin when he dumps his body at that lake.

“Just to complete the image though...” He reaches forward into the cage. “Perhaps if they comply quickly, we won’t have to take any extreme measures, eh Jack?”


	2. Organize

Tooth is like the glittering of the sun off the sea. It’s beautiful, vibrant, catches your breathe when you’re a child standing at the shore for the first time. You are told by now not to stare directly at its reflection, but it is difficult not to. Not to be distracted by the warmth of the sun and the lukewarm water that laps on the ankles. Tooth knows that she can use that same beatify to strike down those that give her a reason. A quick distraction, a half-second pause and that’s all a fairy needs to behead her opponent.

But she was the one distracted. And she is the one that has lost.

Staggering back into the Court without Jack, she wonders if this is what her parents felt when she stayed hiding in the foliage of the jungle, the gleam of men’s guns keeping her in place.

She doesn’t blame Anut for roaring. North does not flinch when the Qiqirn snaps in his face, the way his sister drags him to the side and berets him.

They retreat to Jack’s home to recover. North is lucky in that the pieces are big enough for her to pick out. The Russian is muttering to himself, hands clenched like stones.

“Must have set off alarm. We walked into trap like amateurs-“

“There are many things we should or could have done.” She corrects, using the concentration of pulling the shards and pieces out of his arm and hands instead of breaking something, “What matters is what we do now.”

A bargezagi comes forward, her thick skin even better protected and dumps the boiling water into another cauldron. The room is strongly scented with mint and frankincense. Perhaps it won’t do any good, but at least Frosty won’t be able to use them again.

“We can’t find him without the damn mirror and I don’t think any of us are going to wait for his calling card,” Bunny adds, searching through the books they did manage to get.

“I do not think it will take long.” North answers, prying his hands open.

A bright red silk ribbon. It is a part of Frosty’s story, a key item for his belief. Without it, he will be weak. Desperate. Desperate people are rarely patient, but it also makes a dangerous situation unpredictable now. Sandy lowers himself beside Bunny, looking through the stacks, but the only books that were left have nothing to do with mirrors or winter.

“We might have something in our library.”

Bunny glances up. Cikuq stands in the doorway, her paws gently scraping against the wood. She’s more bundled up than last time he saw her, a thick scarf nearly covering her muzzle.

“About the mirror and stuff. Seg would know, she’s been in charge of the Sanctum since we made it. She can’t get close because of the fire, but she said she might be able to help.”

“Snegurchaka…” North mutters, rubbing his arms. His granddaughter. He hadn’t since-

Cikuq comes forward a bit more, more bundles in her arms and he realizes they are clothes. 

The ceremonial outfits they had started with are discarded. Bunny keeps his green coat on, although he takes the warmers that Cikuq brings and covers his bracers and legs. The temperature is dropping still, just past uncomfortable. She also hands Tooth a lightweight coat that closes tightly at the throat and billowing sleeves that insulate heat. She tries not to think about how it had to have been made in advance, been waiting as a gift for her. Even Sandy fashions himself his old flight jacket. Anut comes forward behind Cikuq with his black lined coat, a hesitance in his step. North nods at him, clapping his arm lightly in forgiveness as he pulls it on, though he isn’t sure if he is asking or accepting. An appropriate choice indeed, though he has no idea how to creature managed to get from the North Pole and back in such a short amount of time.

“I will speak with Snegurchka first. I-I have apologies to make first. Please, friends, see if you and any spirits willing to help you can find anything more about Snow Queen and mirror. We will find solution. We will.”

They nod, heading the short distance. There is no shortage of spirits willing to help, just a matter of combing through all the information.

North, instead of going left as he had been led the first time, goes right. He had been so awestruck the first time he had entered, he had only seen Cheimon’s statue. But on the other side of the arch, to his right, there is Beira. It is one of the few depictions of her that displays her beauty and age. She stands as tall as a mountain and just as proud, a cloak spread out to the floor like a bell and showing images of her life and stories. Her white hair is braided, half of it tied back on the top and the rest spreading out from underneath the hood of her cloak in waves that look like starlight in the ice. A small well sits at the edge of her feet with a small cage on the edges from keeping even the smallest of spirits from falling in by accident.

He sees the markers in the walls for her stories, but he does not have time today. He will make time to visit like he was not able to before. The creatures around him have the shelves pulled out, searching through their contents, so it is a bit of a tight fit as he walks, but they make room. Most of them nod, silently urging him further down.

He sees her before she sees him. North is thankful for that, in a selfish way. It gives him a moment just to see how she has changed. She no longer wears her hair down, twisted into an effortless bun at the nape of her neck, and no hat or hood insight. Her eyes are steady in a way that he has never seen, clear and confident that he wishes he had a hand in witnessing or even helping with. Her dress is for a woman, not the girl who had fought so vehemently against him. Her breathing comes too evenly to be natural though. It seems she never got rid of the habit of using a muffler to hide her trembling hands.

“Hello Grandfather.”

She looks at him like a ghost. Perhaps compared to the statue behind her, he might be. His younger days, just barely growing into the idea that he could be more than a thief and wanderer. He hadn’t worn a blue coat since the day-he hadn’t worn a blue coat since the day he lost her.

“Hello, Snegurchka.” He whispers, stepping forward slightly like she might fade or burst into snowflakes. It would be one of many times he had witnessed it. “May I?”

She nods, opening her own arms. He hugs her gently even though he wants to pull her in. Hugs her as long as she will allow him.

“I’m sorry.” He whispers into the crown of her hair. He remembers the crown he had made her, his little princess, and wonders when she became a queen. “I’m so sorry. I should have tried harder to find you. Should have done better. It was my responsibility, I-“

“Hush now.” She gently orders. “There were actions both of us could have taken to mend what happened and we didn’t. We are both at fault. Besides, I was angry with you far too long before now. I wouldn’t have listened. Even now, we are only pushed together because of- for Jack’s sake. Neither of us is ready, not really.”

Snegurchka clutches him a few seconds longer before letting go, taking a breath. It does not mist.

“Would you like to hear a story?”

She motions to two wing back chairs facing each other, framing the toys he made so long ago. He settles down, asking wordlessly before taking down one of the wooden horses. She smiles, almost like she is going to cry, but takes another breath. They will talk. They will talk and clear the air and start again as adults, and she has forgiven him, but it’s so hard to see him like this-She takes a breath.

“First, allow me to say this. I am also sorry. I am so sorry for how things ended with us, and I am sorry for the actions I took after. I regret, Grandfather, but I cannot say with certainty that I would change my actions back then even if I knew what I know now. I still would have wanted my own story. Does that make sense?” North nods as if he understands all too well. She wishes she knew why. If there are stories her grandfather did not tell her because she was too young. “Then allow me to begin.”

“When you committed yourself to the children, became a true Guardian of Wonder, you passed the North Winds to me in hopes that I would become the Avatar of Winter. And we did try, between the winds and yourself, but it was not working. I was too angry, too impulsive, too childish to become an Avatar. I only saw it as another role that was being forced upon me instead of choosing it or being gifted it. When we had that final fight that was the end for me. I wanted to become my own legend, my own story, no matter the cost.

I was foolish. There is no other way to phrase it. I drifted until I could gather enough energy to regain a form and along the way I had heard tale of a wizard that might be able to help me. Corrupt perhaps, even unethical in his ambitions, but he was powerful, so I went to visit him. He could do as I asked. He could make a separate legend, my own story separate from you. In exchange though, I would be under the same laws as you, subject to children’s beliefs. As payment though, he would only take one thing: The North Winds.”

North cannot react to that. He had thought when he passed them down that he had been giving the North Winds to somebody he trusted, a loved one. He had never in his wildest dreams, thought that such an important thing could be _sold_.

“He swindled you.” He says, careful to put the horseback. “Even for such powerful wish, what you gave was of far greater value.”

“He used me. I know that now. Once I did figure it out, oh how I wailed…but I cannot change what has been done. I stayed in that awful castle for days trying to negotiate with him, but he would not budge. The only other person I saw the entire time I was there was a Chinese woman who was his apprentice. She couldn’t have been much older than me. Eventually, I caved and made the deal.”

Out of the muffler, she pulls out a scroll, the cover detailed in Chinese characters and details around the border worn smooth on the ends by Snegurchka’s hands.

“She found me a few weeks later while I was still trying to get used to the new magic in me. I didn’t recognize her. Not one bit. She handed me this scroll and said that this story had been important to her, once, but she could remember why. While I was building my own story, I was free to use from it. But I could not. I left it untouched and protected all this time…”

Another breath. Don’t cry. If she cries, she dies, and she cannot afford to die today.

“It is the truth of the Snow Queen and her mirror. It is her _true story_. I cannot read it without-“ She chokes back a sob, another break. “I cannot.”

North reached across the distance, setting the scroll to the side and reached for her hands, but then thought better of it. He rolls his sleeves up, the tattoos scrawled across his forearms as clear as day to anybody. He taps the ‘blocks’ of the Nice tattoo, giving her a moment. He had gotten them long ago, just building into them until it felt right. Some were covers of course, from his past, but hidden in those building blocks is her name, in Russian. Plain as day to anybody that could read it. Part of his story.

“I can. I will. I promise to you I will come back here. We will talk in detail more. I will ask your forgiveness, properly, and I will tell you how I missed you.” He bows his head, hands clasped in front to ask for the scroll or her forgiveness, she doesn’t know. “But I must save Jack first.”

“As will I.”

She is glimmering, her skin turning near opaque from the heat of her emotions. Damn her passions. Damn her fury. And damn her too.

He brushes a kiss to the crown of her head, just like when she was a girl, but it is might as well be like a memory. He might as well be a ghost, she says to herself, thinking of Nods flying on birds and defending the world from darkness and neglect. He might as well be a ghost, she says to herself, the three little Scaries with their thin faces smiling wide as they play, waiting for August. I might as well be a ghost, she says to herself, thinking of how long she has haunted the statue of a man that has always been waiting for her.

She breathes, deep and long until she can no longer hear the crunch of his footsteps.

She does not see North doing the exact same, taking in handfuls of air like he is running out, taking handfuls of snow and rubbing his face. Focus, North! Focus! There is time. There is always time. It is an opportunity that is not guaranteed. 

The other Guardians hadn’t strayed far from the entrance. With every spirit trying to help, there wasn’t much room for four more, no matter how important. It is a quick trip back to the fireplace in the Heart, cups of black tea set out in mismatched porcelain. North gently unrolls the scroll.

_Once upon a time in a time far past our own, there lived a girl named Niu. Niu had grown up in an orphanage in a small town not far from the capital city. When she became old enough, the caretakers sent her with a single piece of silver, all they could afford to spare, and told her to make her way to the capital and began to make a living._

_In order to get there, she was forced to go through a deep and dark wood. She had heard tales in the past of encountering strange and supernatural creatures and she had been warned several times not to stop for anything. However, in the dead of night, she heard crying just off the side of the path. She moved her lantern just a bit and saw something wondrous. A jade rabbit with glimmering white fur-like moonlight was sobbing into his little paws._

_“Jade Rabbit?” she asked, “Why do you cry?”_

_“A horrible accident!” The Jade Rabbit sniffled. “A horrible accident I have made. In my haste to prepare the potion for my mistress, I have cracked the mortar. I cannot return home to her knowing I have failed her.”_

_Niu had compassion on the creature and, against practical judgment, created a fire, melting her single piece of silver and using it to mend the mortar. Where it was only porcelain before, it now glittered like the rabbit’s coat._

_“There dear Rabbit, now have a glad heart, for I have mended the mortar for you.”_

_The Jade Rabbit was so happy he jumped nearly three feet in the air, thanking her._

_“A wish! Anything you wish for, if it is in my power, I will grant it.”_

_Niu thought long and hard, for a wish was a great thing._

_“Dear Jade Rabbit, I am an orphan with no family name or legacy to call my own. I fear that I will be forgotten as easily as I was left in this world. I wish that I will create something or do something that will last throughout lifetimes. Something worthwhile and earn my own name.”_

_The rabbit nodded, running his paws over his whiskers as he thought._

_“I see. What is the name you possess now?”_

_“My name is Niu.”_

_“Not anymore. I hereby rename you Yung Zejian for you will create an eternal brilliance. However, in return for your compassion, for you comforted me in a dark time, I will also give you power over every bee that you see. They will do all you ask of them as long as you are as kind and courteous to them as you were to me. Treat them as tenderly as you treated me, and they can help you.”_

_She thanked the Jade Rabbit as he hopped back up into the sky, repeating her name like a prayer throughout the night._

_Once she arrived in the city, she found that most were unwilling to hire a girl from such a small town. Eventually, though, she landed a job in the gardens of a Lord’s house. Her gift was quickly revealed due to every section she worked bloomed flowers twice their size, more vibrant in color, and more abundant than any other garden in the kingdom. When Empress Leizu heard of her, she demanded that she work solely with the mulberry trees and only the flowers were her silks would be died in the Emperor’s own private gardens. Yung Zejian did as she was told and found much happiness. The Empress often visited the mulberry trees and her silkworm garden and often brought her son with her, Changyi. Changyi and Yung Zejian grew side by side and by the time they were mature, found that they were in love with one another. Changyi had proven himself to be handsome, resourceful, and intelligent. Yung Zejian, who conversed with Empress Leizu often and was favored amongst her servants, grew to become well-spoken, graceful, and cunning. However, there was no way to ignore the significant social status between the two of them, with Changyi being a prince and heir to the throne, and Yung Zeijan being a garden girl._

_The Yellow Emperor had encountered a problem, however. For many years, the inhabitants of the mirror had helped them a great deal in advancing technology and design. However, they also caused great destruction and havoc amongst the population. It was becoming close to all-out war or a revolt by the people. The Fauna of Mirrors had to be closed, but they were unable to find a permanent solution or seal to the portal they had so foolishly opened._

_Yung Zeijan had an idea. Her bees had told her of lands far and wide and they knew of a wizard with unimaginable power. If she could attain such power and seal the Fauna of mirrors, she could prove her worth as a future Empress, but more importantly, a worthy bride for Changyi._

_Changyi begged her not to go, but she knew that this may be her only chance. She left a note for Empress Zeiu with an apology and an explanation that the bees had been instructed to do as they always did until her return._

_Outside of the city, she traveled for months and months until she finally came across a large blizzard. The snow was stacking higher and higher as she trudged forward, the wind howling like a hundred packs of hungry wolves. Finally, though, at the center of it, there was a single long tower, stretching to brush the sky. Staring down at her from one of its many windows stood an old man. He was as pale as the snow around him, with a long white beard and thick fur robes that failed to keep his thin veined hands warm._

_“Who are you?” he called; his beady black eyes narrowed in suspicion. “What do you want? Speak before I send a great curse against you!”_

_“Please sir, I came to be your humble apprentice!” she begged. “For creatures far and wide speak of your power and wisdom! Allow me to learn under you and I shall be your servant.”_

_A door opened to the tower and slammed shut on her heels. The old man approached her._

_“As they should, for my power is greater than anything you have seen and twice as cruel. You will earn your place here, girl, starting as my servant. If you show potential, you shall become my apprentice and not a moment sooner. Do you understand?”_

_He was indeed a cruel and harsh master, with unending requests that seemed to grow as time went on. She saw from meetings he had with several other spirits, for none could be human, that he was called the Winter Wizard. He used his magic, potions, and power to create all kinds of destruction and chaos, so long as whoever was paying him did so in exchange for knowledge and information. He was insatiable to learn new things and try new spells, sometimes even using her as a test subject. After a year under his tutelage, she proved her worth as an apprentice and began learning under him directly. The spells were harsh, but it required great control to do them. She knew that when she left, she would be able to soften the spells and potions and their effects to do good instead of this destruction._

_And then a girl came and had something of such powerful value that the Winter Wizard refused all other payments. The North Winds. Those that controlled the North Winds controlled Winter itself, and not just a portion or creating small storms, as her master did, but entire countries could freeze and shatter under his whim. With it, he would be unstoppable and attain even greater knowledge from the highest bidder. The girl did not know this when she made her deal though._

_For a few weeks, her master revealed in the power that it gave him, containing and sealing the fighting North Winds into his staff to control them even more. If she did not act now, there may never be a power great enough then this to stop the Fauna of Mirrors._

_Late in the night, after he had finally fallen asleep, Yung Zeijan went into the throne room at the very top of the tower. When she grabbed the staff she fell to her knees with sheer agony but did not release it. What she could not have known, for the Winter Wizard had suspected she might take it from him, that he had placed a curse upon the staff. Any who touch it are cursed to be loveless and heartless and mindless. He would lose an apprentice but would make the perfect servant._

_What he could not have known, as he thought the North Winds a tool and not a being, is that they had magic of their own and had shifted the spell as much as they could._

_That night, The Winter Wizard was never seen or heard from again._

_After disappearing from the gardens two years ago, she returned to find that the Fauna of Mirrors had only caused more destruction. It seems the Yellow Emperor was still unable to find a solution. He met her at the gate of the palace._

_He bowed to her, “Why do you approach my gates? What may we do for such a being, for surely you are beyond human and look as if the Gods themselves call you their own?”_

_“I admit, I cannot remember why it is important, but I remember that I obtained my power so that I may close the Fauna of Mirrors. If you will allow me to do so, in exchange I will take the mirror and become its sole caretaker and guardian, never to be seen by men again.”_

_The Yellow Emperor saw no other option he could take, as the only solution he had been able to find had been theoretical and would take many years to prepare._

_“Very well. I will allow it.”_

_He escorted her there himself and all of the palace came out of their windows and doors to take a look at the being that walked beside the Emperor, for she was neither human nor spirit now, but incredibly beautiful. Changyi, who had been guarding the mirror day and night since she left, stepped aside as they approached, was the only one who recognized her, for he had always known her beauty._

_“Yung Zeijan!”_

_She turned and he could see that there was no love in her eyes. She recognized him the way the people in the streets recognized him. A figure. A title._

_“Do not be troubled Prince Changyi. I will seal the Fauna of Mirrors and your kingdom will know peace again.”_

_“Do you remember me, Yung Zeijan?” He whispered._

_“I remember your name, and I know that it is for you that I seal this mirror away. But I do not know why. I’m sorry that I have forgotten you, but I remembered my promise.”_

_He nodded, bowing his head, and softly thanking her. There had to be some way to help her remember. Some way he could free her from this curse. And there was, but the prince would not discover it until many years after he had passed on. But that is a story for another time._

_The Snow Queen approached the swirling Fauna that seemed to sense her intent, swirling fiercely on the surface. With a mighty swing, she swung down until the staff broke the water and ice spread down deeper, deeper, and deeper still, freezing the portal shut._

_“The first time you opened this portal, it shattered the mirror the first time. Should this mirror crack two more times, it will never be able to be sealed again, and the Fauna of Mirrors and all its inhabitants will take over this land and all that live and breathe in it. Have it written so!”_

_The historian wrote it in their records, and a swarm of bees filled the room, lifting the mirror out of the center and taking it away. The Snow Queen followed, moving to a far off and distant land where it was cold and the snow fell steadily on its own. The silk produced at the palace, no matter the efforts, was never quite as soft as before._

_The Snow Queen continued to spread winter for several hundred years after. She hid the mirror away and called it The Mirror of Reason, and continually froze the surface for all her time, layer after layer, year after year. Her fine silk robes did not whisper a sound when she walked across it, and her bees often darted on the surface to see if anything moved to catch them. Nothing did. Her castles, for she wandered the earth when she spread winter, were also decorated in vast and beautiful gardens that made even the Spring Court jealous. Others whispered that they had seen Jade Rabbits eating merrily from the garden even, though it was never proven._

_She did not make the winters as devastating as those before her, but most of her compassion and care were frozen inside her core. Most, but not all. While she never offered true comfort to the masses, if she were to find some child hunkered in the snow, she provided them the same comforts the wind and her master’s curse gave her; To numb the cold and to forget about the pain, suffering, and ugliness of the world._

A log crumbles in the fire and falls, scattering embers to the very edges of the fireplace.

“So the Snow Queens’ mirror is actually a doorway. The source of the magic from that mirror is the Fauna of Mirrors.” Tooth pieced together.

“Kai was using the shards in the story, so it had to have been broken again at some point. That makes two. Frosty’s put it all back together again and using additional shards infected with the magic as spy glasses and goodness knows what else. If we attempt to break the magic in order to free Jack, we are the ones who break it a third time.” Bunny twisted one of his boomerangs with his paws. Sandy felt his stomach fall his feet, taking a measured breath.

“If we destroy it or break it, the magic is released and Jack is free, but we are intentionally endangering children of the earth. We break mirror, we break our Oath.” North surmised, rolling the scroll back into his container.

Every option discussed before had been shut down. Breaking the source of magic had been the one option that was full proof. But it wasn’t. Was it a matter of when they could help Jack or if they could at all?

“Guardians.”

They twist around where they have gathered around the fire in the Heart again. They had attempted reading it right in the sanctum, but Tooth’s shivering had started as they arrived. The temperature was past uncomfortable, moving to unpleasant. Even now, she and Bunny moved as close to the fire as possible.

Aghlaki stalks past them to one of the cots in the room, a small boy shaped frame eased onto the cot. A pale boy with white cropped hair, clutching a sealskin coat to his thin form. His is lathered in scars, puncture marks on this arms, his neck, his spine, his naked form quickly covered with the skin and a couple of furs. North stays back as Bunny rushes forward, muttering softly to a vodyany who seems to be an on-call nurse.

“This was found wrapped around his eyes.”

North takes it from his jaws. A soft dark blue cotton ribbon. Jack.

Bunny approaches the boy gently. Bruises on his neck, ankles, and wrists, thinness around his chest, and lack of muscle tell him what he needs to know.

“Please-“ he gasps, “You have to go to the Tower of the Queen’s castle. He even gave me a map to give you, but you have to go. He said he couldn’t let him escape.”

Bunny rests a hand on his head, petting the hair softy. Weakly, a rolled parchment is pressed into his hands, and he transfers it to Tooth. She can look while he works here.

“Ok, ok, we can go, we will go. Can you tell us what happened? Is Frosty there?”

“He was. He made a mistake. A horrible mistake.”

He shivers again, the tremors overtaking his whole body. The Vodynay, he wishes he could remember her name, takes over, balancing the water magic as much as possible, and Bunny steps in, pushing a small hope into the roots of the hair. He senses more than he feels Sandy’s streams move past him to hover on the edge. At the very least, the boy will dream of ocean waves and mermaids to swim beside.

But they have a map. They have a way. They can figure out what to do when they get there. They’ll have to.

North takes out a snow-globe, quickly calibrating it while the others prepare for battle. And possibly recovery and medicine for any who need it.

They will need it.

\--

The castle of the Snow Queen was wrecked before Frosty had moved in. With the changing hands of spirits, the Garden had wilted, the former walking paths overgrown, and the peaceful ponds still. The elegant arches were chipped, dust and snow brushed the inside structures, the former beauty of it all quietly faded. With work and time, it could have been repaired. A lot of work and a lot of time, but it could have.

Tooth does not know if it can now. She feels almost detached as she bandages another spirit, leading them through the gates to Jack’s Court. They keep finding them. Selki’s, Goose Maidens, Swan Maidens, shapeshifters, winter spirits, water spirits, all manner of creature and spirit dragging themselves out of hallways, doorways, rooms, dark corners. As they climb higher and higher, more cages and bowls of food and water, chains-for all that is good and right in the world, there are so many steel cold chains. They are nothing compared to the heat of Sandy’s starlight though. He is furious, she knows. Almost burning too brightly to see now.

Bunny is more detached than she, head tilting up at the weak sunlight streaming through the ceiling. Has it been a full day? Or is it just now morning? She isn’t sure.

Every person they talk to says the same though. None of them could clearly see who it was that shattered the chains and locks. Some of them claim it was a ghost. Others an angel. But it offered the same to them all. Frosty has beaten and abused you. For those that wish justice upon him, they are free to join him. Those that stayed would be taken home as soon as Frosty was found. There were several boys, they aren’t sure if Jack is there.

One of the wolves, newer, still some spark in her shows them a room where water was teeming in a repaired fountain, another where the storage room of roots and other preserves had been stockpiled busted wide open, the lock still on the floor.

“This all hinges on Frosty. There is no shortage of enemies here that wouldn’t have a right, but if Jacks’ not here, he must be a hostage.” Tooth mutters. “Either this other spirit is using Jack as a hostage to draw out Frosty since he clearly wanted Jack or Frosty took him with him on the run. But what does Frosty actually want?”

“ -fairy.”

She twists around. Huddled near a dead tree, deep in the roots, is a poodle. His fur is dingy and brown, though she can see patches of white, a rough rope around his neck like a hangman’s noose. On his forehead lays a shuttering cricket, sleeping fitfully. He is speaking so softly; he barely moves his bone-white jaws.

“The turquoise fairy. My former mistress. I have not seen her in many centuries though. I remember him saying your boy, somehow.” His head cocks to the side, never disturbing his sleeping partner, but slow enough that she isn’t sure he actually moved at all. “That his light would be bright enough to find her.” He lowers his head, fur almost black now with shadow. “I am sorry. She would have liked your boy, I think. His heart was good.”

“His heart is still good.” She snaps. “It’s still good,” she whispers.

Sandy rushes to her, annoyance and confusion muddled on his face. Mother Nature. Mail. Urgent.

A Summons.


	3. Retaliation

Sandy is similar to Tooth. The warmth of sand wiggling between your toes, running through your hands, the vibrant hue of gold as it plays in the wind, a desert playland that has never been able to explore. The sight alone inspires stories of far off places with dashing princes and adventurous princesses and evil bandits. It’s a dreamland. Until the sun burns and burns, baring down and down and down, the mere flicker of it across your skin enough to scorch it red and blistering. Sandy is slow to anger though, slow to grow to such intensities.

He is approaching said limit.

It eases only slightly when they arrive back at the summit location. All of the Spring Court is here, a murmur that isn’t quiet but on the brink of overwhelming. They should be preparing. In just a few weeks, it will be Spring, and there is never any time to waste. So why are they here?

Mother Nature looks to him. She doesn’t crook her finger at him like a dog, though the impulse wavers there. Sandy is far more valuable to her than that. However, she can feel her hair floating up and whipping out, dress shifting from leaf to branch to grass, no season quite right for the swirl of emotion she feels.

“Sandy, we must speak.”

There is a makeshift hospital set up in the center of the coliseum, healers pressing their hands against spring spirits who tremble with a cold that seeps deeper into their bones than anything they have felt before. Windburn nearly blood red on dark sensitive skin and even slashes across those with armor now set off to the side. More than a few sets, actually, reflecting dully in the sunlight that drags its way through the open tent flaps. Did a scuffle occur after the summit?

Sandy goes forward to speak with her, hoping to finish this quickly. They have done nothing except react so far to Frosty. It’s infuriating. He watches Tooth naturally drift towards the tents.

Tooth goes around the hospital, pouring memories of warmth and sunshine into fitful sleepers and those just awake enough to thank her. Bunny has joined her, no doubt hoping to get information while they go through the rows. He has more pull as the Avatar of Spring, and though she has been absent for several centuries, she is still Queen of all Fae, and the Seelie thrive in springtime and summer more than any other. She has some pull here still.

Sandy is less successful. Mother Nature keeps a steady pace as she reports everything back to him. A spirit who is combing through the smaller towns, freezing the adults and creatures as they see fit, leaving their statues frozen in time, snow building so high in some places that it covers the homes, piles in the house from the wide-open swinging doors. But not a single child has been found. Toys scattered across backyards and lawns, empty bedrooms and cribs as if they just walked away. Children are disappearing without a trace of struggle. None of you have felt anything?

Sandy reaches with his magic but he feels nothing. Whatever is happening the children are dreaming and wishing just fine. There is no shift. He has no answers for her beyond what little they have, which only frustrates Mother Nature. He understands. An entire court is in her lap, the seasons are going to be severely delayed, and there seems to be a dangerous spirit wreaking havoc, all after the disaster of a summit. She’s not having a good day. Leading him to a separate section, Jarilo seems to have gotten the brunt of this spirit’s power and magic. It is no easy thing to make a spring spirit cold, they have warmth and light embedded into magic and bone. But Jarilo ‘s goldensmooth skin is hued blue and jagged with ice and frostbite, floating in a heated pool with three fires surrounding it in a triangle. He is shivering at least. Sandy would be more concerned if he were not.

“…I was a fool,” Jarilo mutters, looking just to the side of Sandy who burns too bright and bold for his wind burned eyes right now. “I tried challenging that…thing, but it is more than about seasons or traditions now. It was like looking into Boreas’s eyes again. A Snow Queen. The guardians, not tied to season or weather but belief, may be the only ones who can kill it. That thing wasn’t a spirit. It wasn’t. Couldn’t be. Can’t be.”

Sandy tries to coax more answers, even resulting to sign language but it is no use. Jarilo is too shaken and that says something, considering his wife.

North seems to have a bit more luck though. While the others drifted to the medical tents, and of course Sandy to Mother Nature’s side, North is tall enough to see a small makeshift pasture, a handful of sheered sheep on one side and others waiting. There is no fence, though none of them try and escape or move towards the more active areas. Cautiously he peeks into the open tent.

A shepherd boy, though ‘boy’ is perhaps a bit of a stretch, almost a man, firmly holds the ram with one hand and a pair of shears softly snipping in his other. His cloak has been hung on a staff that is resting against the wall, embroidered heavily with flowers and storms and rows and rows of fields of healthy fruits and vegetables and wheat. His boots are more modern, and his dark jeans too, though ripped in a few places and faded at the ankle and knee, but the white cotton shirt is handspun and thick to protect from the cold and the vest is just as heavily embroidered as the cloak. The sheep do not struggle against his quick and gentle hands, their wool quickly disappearing into baskets that have been stacked against the wall.

Were he anyone else, North might have missed the scrubbed tear marks across his face.

“If you are only here to check on them, the flock is safe.”

His voice is rough, though that is from misuse or sadness North cannot say.

“I am here to see what has happened and how we are to help.” He takes the full basket from him, lining it across the wall with the others and replacing it with an empty one. “I am assuming you are German, who Jack asked to take care of his flock. I am-“

“I am North-”

“I know who you are, Nicholas st. North, Guardian of Wonder.” He pauses, mouth tightening as he shakes the outstretched hand. “I am German, A Spring and Storm spirit, though I tend to play the line closer to where Spring and Winter converge, much like Jack, though for different reasons.”

“Jack trusted you with his sheep and rams. This is no small thing.”

He signs, a trembling hand briefly reaching for his throat before he thinks better of it. He has been shearing the flock for hours now, and he needs a break anyway.

“They trust me.” He jerks his head to the side, wanting to get out of this tent, though the view outside isn’t much better. North lifts the flap, letting loose a bit of his winter magic to make a small area of snow. German chokes an amused huff, plunging his aching hands into the cold.

“I’m sure your fellow Guardians are getting the same information.” He jerks his head to the medical tents, “but we had to come here for refuge. I had received an urgent message from Jack before- to sheer the sheep since he is…unable, so I didn’t see it personally. But I was told a spirit entered the Court, announcing a hunt for Frosty the Snowman and that winter would not end until he was found. My Father, Jarilo, tried to fight him. He has to be tended to by Mother Nature herself for fear of his death.”

A very powerful spirit then. Perhaps even this Winter Wizard. If there was ever a time for him to suddenly reappear, it would be now.

“We are also hunting Frosty-“

“Damn your hunts! Damn the whole thing!” German snaps, hands jerking out of the snow. “Join him if you wish. I need to sheer these sheep down and keep them here. If I don’t, he will pull them towards him, creating even bigger storms with more power. At least if I keep them occupied some part of him may yet survive.” His hand grasps a pendent beneath his shirt. “This is all I can do. This is all I have left. That thing- That spirit-that spirit is not Jack.” He sobs, curling in on himself. “It’s not…”

North cannot comprehend. Frozen.

“…what do you mean?”

“I went to one of the villages.” He whispers. “One of the flock hadn’t come through, so I went back to get them…”

_The ground beneath them should be hard with the last frost, but it is frozen, snow crunching under his feet as he lands. It should be sunny with a slight bite of cold, but it might as well be the middle of winter. Just as he was told, the frozen stalks of Mothers and Fathers stand frozen in everyday tasks. Trimming trees, watching TV, their homes dusted in powder, desolate and cold. Toys abandoned. Not one child frozen, all just…gone._

_German steps forward, eyes darting. The sheep cannot be that far…the prints are still in the snow. He walks forward as silently as possible, but any birds that might have chirped have fled, the wind carries his breath in puffs, and the weight of that silence is heavy._

_Heavy like water that pushes against his lungs, flood his senses. Heavy like the weight of dying, year after year, so that crops can grow and spring can begin. It’s how they met, him and Jack, all those years ago. A boy who saw him drowning and begged him to live. A boy who came back year after year after year of the ceremony to help clear the water from his lungs and ease the bruises from rocks and twists of the river with gentle hands. Somebody who understood what it meant to drown and live with that weight. Who didn’t look down on him for being a shepherd and farmer and gardener and listened as he explained the grids in the fields, the patterns he stitched, the dolls he made, and the way his sheep played in the wheat. Somebody he had chosen to drink wine and break bread with and sleep beside. Eyes so full of joy at seeing him breathe deeply, at seeing him at all, that he couldn’t help but be enamored._

_There is a glimpse of the boy he loves in the spirit that approaches him. The blue cloak drags across the earth with the weight of snow, the lining spreading up and up until it looks like a shifting mountain top with each step. The fur trails up higher to the neck, wild and matted, almost enough to hide the lace collar that has been shredded down below the collar bone, the veins blue and pulsing. The broken lantern burns lowly as it swings forward on a staff with a layer of ice around it faceted like a diamond. Sharpened. Spear like. The antlers on a makeshift crown, a crown crafted to show love and respect, have been sharpened to points, ice dripping off the sides like red velvet shedding. It’s gruesome. It’s horrid._

_But his hands-his hands are gentle still, if so, so cold._

_“You are in pain.” He whispers. There is no puff of air, there is no warmth in his breath. No warmth in his voice. “I can feel it, here.”_

_He presses a bone-white hand to the braided cord under his shirt above his heart, a preserved snowflake so intricate and misshapen and crafted by Jacks’ own hand._

_“I can take this away, German.” The hand slides up, cradling his cheek. He shutters a breath, squeezing his eyes tight. “I can take it all away. No more drowning, no more death, no more obligation year after year. Just you and me, our flocks combined and wild, in an endless Winterland, where there is no pain or hunger or decay.” He smooths a thumb over his cheek, the tear frosting over. “Just join me in my hunt. Help me find Frosty.”_

_“Do you even know where he is going? Or are you just going to freeze the earth until there isn’t anything left. Is that the plan?”_

_“No, of course not. The children are safe of course, even happier than before. I know where he is going. His victims told me why he collected them, what he did. Do you know how many shifters he studied? Men and women and people who could shift between animal and human. What woman in recorded history is known to shift others, especially to repay their wrongdoings? I think he is looking for Circe. He is trying to make her take her curse back.” Thunder rumbles crackles across the sky. “But even if he earns her forgiveness, he has not earned mine.”_

_He can’t breathe. “What did Frosty do, to earn such vengeance?”_

_“No, not vengeance. You see, Frosty is a danger to children. He lies, he leads them with his reckless decisions, he makes them believe he is something that he isn’t. He’s hurting them. I am a Guardian. To allow him to live and continue this way is to break my vows.”_

_He won’t breathe. “What about the other Guardians?”_

_“I know that we will disagree of my methods, but I promise you the children are safe and happy. I will do what the other Guardians could not. I will save them. I will save all of them. Come see them, German. Join me.”_

_He doesn’t need to breathe. “You may be able to provide joy still, even like this, but you cannot provide love. The Jack that I lo-I knew will die when you kill him. I cannot witness that. I’m sorry.”_

_Jack sighs, hand dropping to his side. The lantern burns just a bit brighter, illuminating the hollows of his cheeks, the glimmering shards in his eyes._

_“I can’t say I understand but I accept your decision. Should you keep this decision, I ask, for the memory of all that we were before, do not force my hand against you. But if you change your mind, I will welcome you, German. You will always be able to find me.”_

_A deer, massive in size, ice crafted and opaque and deadly, erupts into existence. Jack-not Jack, there is nothing left of Jack in this spirit, he doesn’t think but maybe?-presses a snowflake into his hand. It is perfectly symmetrical._

The snow globes cannot enter magical domains where they do not have permission, so it is by sled that they rush across the winds to the island of Aeaea.

How do you process? All that German relayed to North, pressing the snowflake into his hand to guide the sleigh. To guide them to Jack. Bunny is hunched in on himself, ears drooping on either side of his head, his boomerangs are creaking under his vice grip. Sandy burns. There is no other way to describe the heat, the light, the aggression that radiates off his form. If it were not for the comforting weight his coat provides, North would have removed it long ago. Tooth absently picks at her feathers, smoothing and streaming and smoothing down again. Her wings are tight against her back. A pair of swords rest at her side, swords she never thought she would use again.

He is still the Guardian of Joy. He is still there, deep down. His vows are corrupt.

They do not know how to save him.

It won’t end with Frosty. These things never do. Frosty is just the current target, but he would find another. There is always another. There would be no end, only a delayed inevitability.

The North Winds, they all know the feel of them by now, after so long in Jack’s presence, are helping his reindeer fly faster. The North Winds are helping them get to the spirit-to Jack, at a rate that even alerted, he would not be able to counter an attack in time.

Jack’s faithful beloved is defying him.

They are not pulling them to Aeaea though. They are making a streamline for a different location, nearly sideways of the path they are on.

North trusted these winds once. Wielded them as a weapon, as a tool, as a pet. Jack trusted German, left an open invitation, knowing the risk. He sighs, squaring his shoulders, and lets go of the reins.

They rocket across the sky, a blur of snow below them, a chilly blue above, and a storm breaking down and pouring on the horizon.


	4. Last Stand

Bunny is far different from any of the other Guardians and perhaps the one that is most familiar. Bunny is like falling asleep in a ray of sunlight, something in the act enough to warm bones and melt way shadows that wait in the corner of your mind. It’s rare and oh so worth it. But storm clouds are quick to gather, the warmth bleeding into something muggy and sweltering until it comes falling and when it rains, it pours. Bunny has never withheld the storms inside him, the ones he knows of at least, even if he sometimes regrets the damage later.

He wonders at the damage that will be done today. If it can be fixed with rays of light and soft not-apologizes and careful ruffles of hair that makes everything ok again.

They leave the sleigh around a mile out from the only thing that this forest hides. It is deceptively simple in appearance. A structure of what used to be a fine log cabin now has rot chewing through the wood, the windows smashed through from heavy rain and snow. Just through the windows, he can see the blackened remains of a stove that somebody had lit but didn’t know how to stop, and beyond that, a rusted chain anchored to a bit of wood in the backyard. A dog house, he assumes.

“This is part of Frosty’s story…” He whispers. The original, the first story, not the one they put in movies.

Rounding to the back is Frosty himself. To say he is weak is an understatement. There are chucks of snow missing from his chest and back while his jolly stomach remains fat, his legs and arms thin as sticks, thin lips shaking from exertion or the wind even he isn’t sure but it creates a misshapen monstrous silhouette. His coal eyes are darting furiously over the last few pieces he has left, muttering to himself softly, “Where is he? The boy-I have no time. Not a second, I have to find her. Make her fix this. Fix all of it, it’s her fault-“

Tooth’s sword forces his chin up.

“Where is he?”

“I didn’t mean for this,” he whispers, “I really didn’t. I just needed her! If I can find the fairy, she can fix this, all of it, I promise. If _you_ help me find her-“

“We have coordinates.” Bunny growls. “But only if she can save Jack.”

“Don’t you get it?” Frosty screeches. “Even I don’t know if that thing can be saved! I have been cruel in the pursuit of all that I know, it’s true. I have put shards into creatures and spirits all over the world as a moving set of eyes to try and find her. And in all my time and with all those spirits, I never found a way to remove them. In hands and feet, sure, but not eyes.” He chuckles to himself, almost hysterically now. “If you want my theory, I don’t think spirits can. Gerda and Kai broke the spell when they were still warm-blooded, alive, _human_.”

“Children.”

Emerging from the trees is a horned creature that carries the weight of snow and ice across his shoulders proudly, the clack of his staff spreading out power with each step enough to make the dense snow crack. 

“They were children when they broke the curse.”

His horns are sharpened to points, glimmering red from the holly berries at the base. Bunny’s teeth grind when he sees tiny snowbells that have sprouted in the damned leaves.

“Children still, that you neglected. That you harmed. That you nearly killed.”

He stops, just on the edge of a shattered and rotted cabin, in the middle of the woods, with a broken lantern shining with starlight.

“It isn’t personal, Frosty, though I know you think as much.” He looks up at them, his eyes glimmering coldly with glass and snow and blue, the blasted blue of Jackson Overland Frost.

“Don’t you see?” he says looks at each of them. “I am still the Guardian of Fun. I can still fulfill my oath. To watch over them, to guide them safely from harm and their lives, all of it. I can bring the beauty and joy of Winter into their lives to children and even the spirits. All snowballs and fun times, remember?”

Hard work and deadlines. Dead lines.

“I have worked too hard to have it end like this!” Frosty roars, pulling with the last bit of his magic to the snow on the ground. Three warriors tower over Jack, hulking beasts of ice and snow, swords raised against him in unison.

It’s almost laughable. Even if all three of them were to get a hold of Jack, at most it would break a bone, maybe bruise, but definitely not kill.

German was right though. If Jack is allowed to kill, if they allow this, they will never get him back. There is always another, there will always be another until eventually all have to be eliminated.

Bunny squares his shoulders, sliding into stance.

“I’m sorry, Jack.”

He stands beside Frosty.

For a moment, Jack is frozen, eyes widening just enough to be seen, a slight quiver in his lip before it is pressed flat.

“I knew there would be disagreements but- well, it isn’t the first time you’ve stood against me, is it?” He lowers his head, his antlers flashing like knives. “Fine. There will be other Guardians. Guardians of my own making.”

His staff slams down to the ground, the ferns rising into the air. Six warriors, great hulking beasts, exact parodies of Frosty’s, eyes glittering sharply in the dying sunlight. Frosty has to control his, Jacks’ have to only take command. To drag Frosty to him at any cost.

The warriors rush in.

The snow warriors match one another, swords clashing instantly while Jack rushes straight for Frosty. North and Sandy take the other three warriors while Tooth and Bunny guard Frosty. All of Frosty’s attention is focused on controlling his own warriors, but he is faltering already. They take too much from him. Jack hardly pays his any attention.

Tooth parries the staff as it twists through the air. “Eternity” she whispers. It slams down an inch where his feet had landed. “eternita” her sword slashes his coat, pulling back enough to not clip his ribs. “ewigkeit”. She is desperate she knows, she knows it may be useless but spelling eternity had been part. “evighet” maybe her memory may pull up some word, some password that can at least “vechnost” wiggle loosen move move move move “eternitate”

Sandy tries to warm the area around him, burning the heat of starlight in the air but all it accomplishes is sluggish clumps and freezing puddles. Frosty groans in pain from it, the magic from the silk hat near burning with the effort to keep him stable.

Bunny is silent, unnervingly silent, but doing the same as her. Dodging and guarding Frosty but pulling his punches. Watching. Jack’s fighting style was based on surprise and speed, though his magic is nothing to scoff at when he really lets go. They had gone over how to utilize it for deadly attacks. Jack rolls into his defenses, just like he taught him.

“We know how precise Jack’s magic is. It isn’t fighting him the way the North Wind did.”

Jack huffs, wind knocked out of him as Bunny kicks him back to the tree line.

“He is holding back.”

Jack lifts his head, growls, and lightning flashes in the sky. The wind twists around them, clouds quickly gathering.

“Don’t you understand?” Jack asks. “If you would just let me do this, we can stop them from ever experiencing the way you all did!”

The last of Frosty’s warriors falls under Jack’s might.

“They will never know the death of a mother or father! They will never wonder if they were wanted or adored. They will not wander the land and sky and stars for a place to belong. They will never know the pain of loneliness and survival and the ache of wanting something that they cannot have anymore. Can’t you see what I am trying to do?” He is begging, but his staff is raised, the starlight gathering like a blackhole. “Can’t you see I am telling the truth?”

“Truth.” Bunny grinds the word out through clenched jaws. “Truth? Here is a truth for you.”

Bunny has not pulled on this power for centuries now, but it rises easily to his hand. “I will not give up on you. Not for all the stars in the sky, not for every blasted planet that rattles the heavens, I will find a way. I will find you.” Sandy pushes his own light into the mix. “You are Joy. Not just in providing, in being. Existing.” Tooth breathes out, a whisp of warmth that defies the dropping temperature. “The same as any of us.” North’s fire flares behind him. The ground buckles into a crater underneath the sheer pressure. “All that we do, now and forever more, is for you.”

Time stands still. And then they are truly frozen, the very snowflakes in the air still.

From a single beam of starlight, a woman appears.

“Who is causing such a stir that they forced me to return to the land of men?” She asks, looking towards each of them. She doesn’t recognize the rabbit looking form, not one of hers, and- she pushes down more on the horned boy on the edge, why is he fighting her? -but finally an echo of her magic.

“You promised me.”

The Turquoise fairy, or Circe, they are both her name, looks towards the skinny looking abomination that might have been a snowman, once. She furrows her eyebrows.

“You promised me. A fairy with turquoise hair promised me that they would restore my form. It had to be you. I waited and waited and waited but you never came. You promised.”

“The Wizard.” She realizes. “Yes. I remember you now. Though you don’t seem to remember our deal. The world has not forgotten your atrocities, Winter Wizard. When the dark curse you placed on that staff backfired on you, you were sent to me. The deal, provided to you, as so many before, is that you must prove yourself brave, truthful, and unselfish in order to even have an opportunity of gaining your old form.” She waves her hand. “The only thing you have proven is that you have not changed.”

“Wizard? I am Frosty. Frosty the Snowman. You have mistaken, but it does not change what you said.” He insists, an attempt to step forward hindered by the chains of her magic.

Circe’s feet brush the floor, but they make no imprint in the snow as she approaches him. Frosty cannot move, only helplessly gasp as she plucks the silk hat from his head.

“Something must have messed with your head if-ah!” The ribbon around the head is the same but, “Your apprentice seems to have had some sort of mercy for you before she left and patched your outfit with her own silk for your funeral. In doing so, the remnants of the curse you placed on her were carried over. Loveless, mindless, and heartless. Combined with my spell, it seems to have erased your memory and left you able to give love but not feel its warmth yourself.”

She places the hat back on his head, really looking into his eyes. “You have already suffered quite heavily, and though I cannot fault you for not fulfilling a deal you cannot remember, I cannot lift it until you meet those requirements.”

She turns towards the Guardians at long last. They drop softly into the ground where they had been frozen. She does not release Jack, who continues to fight against her.

“I have two options to offer, Guardians of Childhood.” She looks towards Jack, the pupil of her eye swallowed by her brown eyes. “His desires have not changed. His core, this Joy, fun, whatever you call it, has not shifted. His soul holds a stronger will than many I have met. But the mind and body have been corrupted.”

She waves a hand, a small form taking place in the snow of something thin and clawed.

“I can change his form and once proved himself brave, truthful and unselfish, I can turn him back into a spirit and the shards could be removed that way. I think a weasel or ferret would be a good fit. However, children are finicky, and I can near guarantee you that the only memories he would have would be the ones he made after the change. Everything else would be lost. Or-“ the form falls away, leaving a boy. “Find a way to break the magic. I will hold him while you convene.”

Sandy steps forward in front of Jack, signing quickly. X with his arms, a past jack, rising from the lake, blinking dew eyed and new to the world. We can’t do that to him. Not again.

“What other choices are there? I know if we do this, we lose the Jack we knew, but to lose him completely isn’t an option. We can’t-I can’t lose another. I don’t think any of us can bear another.” Tooth looks meaningfully at Bunny. Jack pushes against the magic holding him, eyes darting to each.

Bunny looks forward, silent, thin-lipped. There is not knowledge he can pull from, no book in his library, no database he can access, nothing that can fix it. According to all that they have, Jack cannot be saved. But. There has to be a but.

North steps forward, his swords sliding silently into their sheaths. “You spoke of truth. Do you wish to know what I learned, in the time you have given me?” He removes his gloves, gently rubbing his thumb over frostbitten cheeks. “You are Joy, my boy. You gather knowledge and collect it and welcome others to learn and create beside you. You ask yourself so many questions. I asked myself, what good is Wonder if I cannot ask myself how to work towards better and happier futures? What good are questions if I cannot ask what will bring a child the most happiness? In my wonder, I asked myself how to bring joy. In my wonder, I asked where you were.”

Tooth steps forward. On his ear that is a splatter of blood. Blood drawn by her swords, when she clipped his ear. “You reminded me how precious Memories actually were. I watched you regain them, day by day, and shoulder their deaths with a grin and cry through the soft echoes of love you found again. You reminded me; What good are memories if you cannot use them to grin through the hard times? If you cannot use them to remember how to be better. How to smile through the hard times. How will I reminiscence if I cannot smile with you? I want to smile with you.”

Sandy releases the whips, gathering them above his head. Jack had learned his language, his signs, to understand him. He hopes that they can still reach where words can’t. Not for all the stars in the sky, not for every blasted planet that rattles the heavens still, nor for all the wishes whispered under revered breath would I take back a single moment. Put simply, children wish for many things, Jackson Overland Frost. To live and thrive but most of all they wish for Joy. They wish for you.”

Bunny gingerly steps forward, carefully removing the crown and gently, ruffles the frosted strands. “What is Hope without hope for Joy in the future? Rather I saw it or not, you were always meant to be with us. You swore an oath with us. Even in this, you have not broken it. What we failed to see was that you were there, in the middle of it, just like we are.”

They all speak it together.

“I will watch over the children of Earth. To guide them safely in the way of harm. To keep happy their hearts, brave their souls and rosy their cheeks, to guard with my life their hopes and dreams. For they are all that I have, all that I am and all that I will ever be.”

Light streams down near bright as the sun, flooding them until they are near glowing with it as they cradle their boy.

Wordlessly, the Turquoise Fairy breaks her hold.

Wordlessly, a hot tear slides down North’s thumb.

Wordlessly, Sandy’s head snaps up, just a moment before a hiccup cuts the air. A sob. A broken sound that catches the air and then wails, curls into their hands, and begs forgiveness. He cradles him in sand and starlight, but he is sure now. His starlight. Jack’s starlight. And his. Almost lost amongst it the realization is the clatter of glass shards hitting the ground.

“That isn’t…” Frosty mutters, disappearing with the Fairy into a portal to report to Mother Nature personally. “Spirits can’t-“

“Out of curiosity, did you ever force any shards unto a child spirit?”

The portal closes behind them. Time starts again. The snow and ice melt sluggishly as the spring sun is allowed to shine down again. Creatures of all shapes and sizes begin trudging to the Court of Sleep, shaking their heads and muttering about headaches and bruises. They can remember bits and pieces of the past few days but not much. Parents, broken from their spells, rush to find their children only to find them wandering out of forests and alleys and backroads, with no memory or idea of where they were or what happened. Only that it was cold and fun and they were safe and well-fed.

The cape and crown are left in the decrepitated backyard, the lantern tarnished, burnt out, and empty in the folds, to be torn apart by the elements. Bunny collects the shard into a pouch, to be disposed of as soon as possible. Jack, huddled the warmth of North’s coat, rides silently to North’s workshop. After his sobs, he had passed out right after, no doubt from exhaustion. North’s infirmary is well stocked though, and the windows have been pushed open as wide as they will to let as much moonlight in as possible. All Guardians heal best in moonlight. They take turns beside his bed as he rests.

Sandy tells them he isn’t dreaming when they see his hands clench and pull and reach in his sleep. Tooth tells them he isn’t remembering when the tears stop and start throughout the night. Bunny tells them that hopes are opening and sealing themselves off and on again. North says he is losing and gaining questions as quickly as they float away. They all notice the single beam of light that does not flicker or waver from Jack’s fitful form, no matter how the moon shifts in the sky.

So they do what they can. North easing his hands open and soothing the aching muscles and tight shoulders, Sandy slowly warming his body back up with the tiniest bits of warmth he can muster, Tooth telling stories, and even Bunny soothing the sweating hair from his head and wiping him down with a cold cloth.

They wait.


	5. Aftermath

Jack is like Winter itself, the Guardians decide. Most of the time, he gently drifts along, creating soft pillows to jump in and snowball fights to play. Just enough ice to make it slippery, just enough cold to feel it nip at the nerves of your skin. For all that Jack shrugs his shoulders, he has amazing control. But when Jack loses it, he is a complete whiteout. A blizzard that is encompassing and devasting, howling winds and sharp ice-like blades that breaks skin.

But that’s not the part that worries them. It is quiet after, when the blizzard is done. Buzzing and numb, a hollow sound that makes hair and fur stand on end, the broken way he silently picks himself up and starts putting the pieces back together again. The way that smile slides so casually back into place.

Like now, stepping back into the Seasonal Summit to finally finish with the official business. Jack is once again resting in Aghlaki’s fur, the warmth something he craves, parts of his body cold still, but the Court of Sleep settled themselves around the chairs for the Guardians. It seems they had proven themselves after finally bringing their boy back a few days earlier, safe and sound if not a bit quieter.

Unfortunately, even this Seasonal Summit had still required formal dress. Understandably, Jack’s previous ceremony outfit had been ruined, in more ways than one. Any weight heavier than a light jacket on Jack’s shoulders was quickly shrugged off. And absolutely no crowns or horns, that had been non-negotiable. But in the time beside his bed, as he recovered, they had crafted a hooded caplet all together for him. Diamonds and snowflakes on the bottom inside border, triangles, and arrows fashioned after North’s tattoos intermingling with them, and snowdrops on the outside border. It was simple, and he could add to it later if he wanted. North quietly mentioned that German had been the one to bring the basic capelet in the first place, knitted by his storm sheep at one of his visits, and they had added to it bit by bit.

“…German came?” he had whispered, hand running across a blanket on the bed. It had been one of the ones in Jack’s ‘bed’, probably knitted by the wool of his storm sheep as well.

“He has come whenever opportunity is there, but unfortunately very busy right now. He will keep your flock until you come to collect them, he says, but they are currently being put to work with his own to try and get things back on schedule. They will rest easy when they return home.”

Jack had opened his mouth to say something but then closed it again, resting against the pillows and pulling the capelet tighter to him.

“The Seasonal Summit is now in session.” Mother Nature announces, settling unto her throne. The others quiet immediately. “The first order of business will be addressing the disturbance of our previous session. Frosty the Snowman, step forward.”

Frosty approaches the throne and kneels a foot away. He has been ‘filled in’ since they last saw him, looking closer to how he had when he had first been discovered. A perfectly round head, beady coal eyes, branch-like arms, every bit a walking snowman. He pointedly does not look to the Guardians. Jack pats the direwolf’s head as a low growl rumbles out.

“Frosty, due to extenuating circumstances you lost memory and sanity at the hand of your own desperation and past misdeeds. You and the Turquoise Fairy remade your deal, yes?”

“We did.”

“Speak it so.”

“I…I will have another chance to fulfill her requirements as well as amendments due to the curse that is on me. I must prove myself brave, truthful, and unselfish. I will be able to feel the warmth and love of others as well as give warmth and love. However, I will be dependent on a child’s love, not their belief, in order to remain. I will also consent to whatever form Gerda and Kai choose for me as their guardian and caretaker, now and forevermore.”

Gerda and Kai, who had been guarded by Anut come forward. They have been dressed in warm furs, well-fed and rosy-cheeked, and rush forward. Frosty nods his head, a bittersweet smile as he drops to his knees to hug them both.

The snow falls away.

Gerda and Kai never saw him as some silly old snowman. They saw him as a spirit. A father. A protector. When the snow falls away, it forms to become something like them. Human looking, but sharp-tongued and sharp-eared, pale skin and white hair and white beard. His eyes are still black as coal but they are human. Tears begin pouring almost immediately. He can feel the sun on his back, the warmth of their faces pressed into his neck. He can feel how much they love him and how much they missed him, and all those memories come rushing back. He has so much to make up for, so much to do to prove that he is worth all that they feel, but he is willing. His wonderful forgiving children.

Jack breaths out, feeling their joy, and more importantly, Frosty’s joy. He is sincere.

“As-“ he keeps Gerda and Kai close, pulling him tighter to his chest. “As discussed with Mother Nature, I would also like to pass on the official title of Avatar of Winter to Jack. He has had the North Wind, power, and responsibility all along, but the title has not been passed since my previous time as the Winter Wizard. I would like to restore the cycle properly.”

“And those that came before me as well? I have them honored in my Court but it’s never been on paper.”

“Of course.” He flinches at hearing Jack’s voice.

“Let it be written then.” Mother Nature waves to one of her ‘secretaries’, really the record keepers of all of the time of Earth, nodded.

“After myself, the Snow Queen was the Avatar of Winter. When Gerda and Kai broke my curse on her, it released her from her spirit form, and through the Trails of Combat did the North Winds pass to them. However, seeing them as children and therefore unfit to handle the responsibility, the Winds themselves left. Gerda and Kai pretended to be Old Man Winter and Mother Frost in disguise to protect them from spirits who would harm them. I do not know what happened after that.”

Jack rises, his staff lightly forward until the snow begins to form an image of a man in uniform.

“The winds, weakened and loosing for a vessel, find General Winter. At the time, he was only a dying mortal man who had prayed for a way to protect his home from war and the North Winds heard him. He was the first to be chosen by the winds for his wisdom, his purpose, and the promise that they would allow him to choose a vessel themselves at the end of his time. He chose me.”

“And so I declare, by the power of the North Winds and it’s previous handler, Jackson Overland Frost, Avatar of Winter.”

His faithful beloved, the precious North Wind, comes forward, wrapping him up and pulling him into the air. The North Winds were careful in their choice but every Avatar had some sort of Crown or something to indicate their rank. They kept it simple, a thin silver circlet with even smaller snowflakes and snowdrops around the frame, and their title in Jack’s language. So light that it was barely any weight at all. Jack seems to understand, nodding that it’s ok. He is ok. The North Winds have never been a burden to them and to carry their name is no hardship.

They continue with other business. It should have been a grand ceremony and feast but Jack had refused. He had been doing this job for several decades at the very least, he didn’t want any of it. The only major change anyway would be his court name, which would be the Court of Sleep and Winter now.

The bells sound, the meeting is over, and now they can mingle again before fading out. Jack rises, waving off the helping hands.

“I want to meet with someone really quick and then I’ll rest again. Promise!”

He walks across the crowded room to the fields, a large flock of sheep playing and grazing together. German was, at his core, a storm spirit, but intermingled heavily with spring due to his purpose. Jack previously had been similar, winter and storm, but now he was Winter through and through.

German still pulls him into a hug, the same way he always does, pulling him in by the scruff of his hoodie. Jack is the one that deviates, clinging to the back of his cape and pulling him closer.

“We can still ditch.” German mutters. “Everyone is distracted enough they wouldn’t notice. Except your Guardians, I’m pretty sure they installed a tracker on you by now.”

Jack laughs against his collarbone and Lord, does that feel good. He has felt so-

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I never, I mean I meant it, even screwed up, I meant it, but to use your emotions like that-“

German squeezes him a bit tighter.

“You didn’t use them. Just acknowledged them in a way we never have before.”

Jack pulls back a hair, just enough to look German in the eye.

“North told me he felt drawn to you because you wanted me back just as much as they did.”

German looks away, taking a breath before pressing a hand over Jack’s heart.

“Not back, just you. I just want you, however, you’ll have me.”

Jack reaches up, taking the hand over his heart and placing it on his cheek. German releases a shaking breath.

“It isn’t-I _want_ -I also-but I can’t. Not yet. I want to talk about it more, later? Please? Everything is still to raw right, and I can’t look at you without remembering-.”

German rubs a thumb across his cheek, muttering into the limited space between them.

“We are spirits.” He pulls Jack’s hand to the necklace hiding under his shirt. “We have time. Take what you need, and I will be here.”

Jack’s head drops to his shoulder again, hand moving up to hold his.

“Can I pick up the flock when I come see you after your ceremony?”

“You would still come? After all this?”

“If you will still have me, after all of this.”

“Why do you ask that when you know the answer?”

Jack huffs a laugh into his skin, and he savors it, savoring the reddening cheek under his hand, entangled in Jack’s fingers. He could live off of this memory alone for decades. To know that there might be more…well, he always did have a good poker face.

Jack nods once more, moving away from German to visit his flock. It has been weeks since they last saw him and will be weeks more before they are back in their home. They nuzzle his hand and cheeks, smelling and shifting all around him. He breathes in their scent of ozone and lightning and crisp cold.

It’s nice, being away from worried eyes and outreached hands and well-meaning silences. So many things happened, and so much he doesn’t understand. He remembers more than what he doesn’t remember. But the things he doesn’t remember bother him. Like where he put the children.

Every child has emerged from forests, caves, alleyways, and little holes in the walls all around the world. Some close to home and others hundreds of miles away. And not just the ones from the villages and towns he combed through, but dozens of others who were just out playing nearby. He listened to some of the accounts, though they are all basically the same. They can’t remember where they were or what happened, only that they were well fed and cold and it was fun. But Jack has no idea where he took them. It wasn’t the Court of Sleep, none of his residents reported a single child. It wasn’t any forest or other place he would have trusted because the spirits traveling with him would have said as much, though their memories are just as fuzzy. They remember children’s laughter, but not why or where or what they looked like.

He glances around, seeing that all of their backs are turned. He just needs a moment. He can’t risk being heard.

The ferns spread under his staff and he disappears through them.

On the other side is the lake. The trees around are stripped of leaves, empty branches doing little to keep the wind away. The lake is deep and smooth and frozen over. It has been since he died. He had slept for many days in North’s infirmary under moonlight, apparently where Guardians heal best, who knew and then most of the other time in the actual Court of Sleep. None of them had thought to bring him here.

He walks to the middle of the lake. He sits down where the ice cracked around him, those centuries ago. He looks up at the moon, blinking in the light, like all that time ago.

There were many people around, when he had awoken, he just hadn’t known seen them. The North Wind who rushed to him, and General Winter, who had faded into snowflakes immediately after giving his blessing.

“But not you.” He whispers. “You were not here. You did not create me, did you Man in the Moon?”

As always, the Man in the Moon stays silent. But it almost feels guilty.

“That wasn’t your voice.”

The moonlight shifts away from the treeline, but there is a single beam that stays, lighting the darkness with a brilliance like starlight. That is starlight.

A man forms, ghostly pale with long wispy hair and armor that twinkles.

I’m so sorry. I am sorry, my dear starshine, it was never by choice. Jack feels it more than hears it. It was the same gestures and signs, the same language that Sandy had taught him. ((I am Night Light, Guardian of Bravery and I am a literal Night Light My light, my messages, they work in conjunction with Mim’s in order to reach earth, they don’t work otherwise. Mim has forced me into silence for over three hundred years. Until now.

Jack shakes his head. “Why? What did I do? What happened?”

You were brilliant. When I have Katherine my Good Night kiss, I gave up my youth.)) He gestures to the beard on his face, traces the wrinkles around his mouth and eyes. ((It made me more…human. I still kept my own oath and protected the Lunar Prince, but I wanted. I wanted in a way I hadn’t before. I wanted My Katherine. I wanted to be with my fellow Guardians. I wanted in a way I don’t know I was capable of before. I saw how distant they had all gotten and myself and Katherine had spoken for years about how they needed a child of their own. Somebody to have the childhood that they didn’t get to have, somebody they could love. You were part of a handful of children we had considered and although we hadn’t discussed it with the Prince yet, it was planned. We had set up a dinner and everything.

He huffs, shaking his shoulders out as if annoyed and burned brighter. ((Pitch saw the same thing in each person we looked at. He started picking you off, systematically testing and each one failing. I begged to intervene, but my Prince said that while he didn’t approve of the person if they couldn’t handle Pitch they couldn’t be a Guardian. We were in the middle of one such discussion as to why that was ridiculous when he tested you. And you, darling starlight, invited him to a game. You invited the embodiment of Fear to a game and you won.”

He dims so sharply that Jack thinks he disappeared completely.

“And then you fell. Trapped in the darkness of Pitch’s very heart because he cheated. And then you were dying. I couldn’t stop you from dying, but I could ensure that you rose back up. I gave you a portion of my starlight through a Lullaby.”

He brightens again, still dimmer than before, almost ghost-like in his luminescence.

“The Lunar Prince was furious with me. A portion of power for a possibility. It was the first time we argued. He agreed to wake you, rose you from this very lake. And proceeded to only give you half of your name. I watched you stumble and shake as they walked through you and I couldn’t understand why he would let a child suffer. He claimed that if my spirit was as strong as I seemed to think then you would be the same, no matter how little you started with.

He flared, too bright for Jack’s already sensitive eyes. 

“We fought and argued and bickered for three hundred years. How a name defines a person and how a person defines a name. How to measure a child versus an adult. His own cruelty that I was not allowed to reach for you, no Guardian was allowed to reach out to you, no matter what you did or how you called out for somebody to just see you. How I had guarded and protected him through the collapse of an empire and a millennia’s after, only for his own childishness, self-importance and selfishness to-“

He seemed to reign himself, dimmer now, seeable at least.

“I’m sorry. Let me just-“ He floated down to him, wiping the tears back and gentle touches of healing magic around him, dimming back down to a more ghostly parlor. “Then this whole glass business.” He kept his hands cradled around Jack’s face, marveling at the warmth and light of his eyes. “And once again, in your darkest hour, you did not falter. Even in the throughs of an item fashioned in the same manner as the shadows that caused General Pitchner to fall, your heart was still for the children. If that didn’t show the strength of your soul and spirit, then you were only suffering and had been suffering as punishment on my behalf. And he couldn’t say anything to that.”

Jack nods, taking both of his hands and holding Night Lights in front of him. They are similarly pale. Long fingers with seemingly short palms, little indents, and cuts from fights and pens.

“I accept your apology, but…the images I saw.” Small. They all used to be so small. And it was so much worse than they said or thought.

“To be honest with you, I’m not sure what stories Katherine told you. Only that she wanted you to help you understand them better.”

The sun is rising on the horizon now, Night Light fading more and more. He holds him tightly until the sunlight fizzles him out of existence.

Jack sits for a long moment. He isn’t sure either. Only that he isn’t sure that he received the message that she wanted. He can’t forget the things he saw, the memories that aren’t his, the wishes he never made, the hopes he packed away and cultivated, the questions he never asked.

The only thing he learned is that he is a Guardian of Childhood. A Guardian of Joy. And joy and dreams and memories and wonder and hope are wonderful good things, but some people don’t reach even the first. They don’t reach childhood.

But how can the Man in the Moon understand that when his childhood was filled with light and wonder and the very best that the world had to offer? He couldn’t. He is only a product of his raising. If maybe, just maybe, he was able to fix this, it would need to go even further back then just the Man in the Moon being the Man in the Moon.

He would need to go back to when the very first Guardian of Childhood was attempted.

And failed.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I don't know if I am completely satisfied with it, but it is what it is. There was an epilogue planned that I may still do, but right now I just have too much going on right now to get to it. Thank all of you for being so patient with me and I hope it was worth it!


End file.
